Garage door



April 29, 1952 Filed June 20, 1950 Patented Apr. 29, 1952 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE GARAGE noon Siegmund Siperek, Detroit, Mich.

Application June 20, 1950, Serial No. 169,080

2 Claims. 1 V

This invention relates to doors of garages and similar structures, and,more particularly, to garage doors which are pivoted for upward anddownward swinging as a single fiat unit to open overhead and lowerclosed portions. Such doors are usually counterbalanced, as by springsor weights, to assist their easy and smooth operation; but neither thecounterbalancing nor the particular pivot structure or mechanism arefeatures of the present invention which lies in the manner in which thedoor proper is cooperatively fitted in the door frame to produce thedesirable features about to be explained.

An object of the invention is to provide in a door of this type ageometric configuration of the two upright edges of the door'panel andof the corresponding door framework, whereby a firm and draft-proof sealtherebetween may be assured when the door is in its lower closedposition, and a practically immediate separation of these edges of thedoor from the said frame members is insured upon the initial openingaction or raising of the door. a

An important object of the said invention is to dispense, in such adoor, with the usual overlapping frontal or rear jamb strips or cleatssuch as are commonly associated with such doors as stops orweather-sealing means; and further, to provide an arrangement wherebythe door' may be hung flush with the front face of its frame to makeavailable a maximum of floor space within a the garage or buildingwithout detracting from the efliciency of the door as a closure.

More particularly, the said invention contemplates, in a pivotedupwardly swingable door of this type, the converging downwardly of thetwo lateral edges of the door and the converging in counterpart thereofof the opposed edges of the two vertical door frame members whereby, inthe lower position of the said door, the edges, thereof about theopposed inclined edges of the door frame with a wedging action but arereadily separated therefrom upon the initial pivotal raising of the dooras a reverse function of such wedging action; the resulting progressiveseparation of the opposed edges of the door and its frame membersproviding increasing clearance for the free swinging of the door aboutits pivotal axis during the raising operation.

The elimination of vertical stops, cleats or jamb strips is sought inorder to simplify construction, to modify the usual method of sealingthe door upon closure, and to permit the advancing of the closed doorposition to a maximum extent within the door frame for the purposesreferred to.

In carrying the said invention into effect, I may adopt the novelconstruction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, by way ofexample, having reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of the pivoted upwardly swingable door,the said door being shown in its lower or closed position;

Figure 2 is a similar elevation showing the door in a partially raisedposition;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken on a plane indicated bythe line 33 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is-a vertical sectional view through the door taken on a planeindicated by the line 4-4 inFigure 1; and

Figure 5 is a similar view to Figure 4 showing the door partly raised.

Similar characters of reference indicate simi'lar parts in the severalfigures of the drawing.

it) indicates a garage or similar building wall having a door openingtherein, i l' indicating the lintel defining the top of the said dooropening and. II and I! the side frame members of the said door opening,which frame members are usually in the form of post'shaving parallelvertical edges presented toward one another. However, in the presentcase, these frame members are characterized by their opposed edgesiwhichin the illustrated example are provided with facings l3 and 14) beinginclined from the vertical so that they are downwardly convergedrelatively as will be quite clear from an examination of Figures 1 and 2of the drawing.

Hereinafter, for the sake of simple description, reference to theopposed edges of the frame members II and i2 will be intended asreferring tothe facings I3 and H where these are provided.

The door itself 15 is of a configuration complementary to the resultingopening, in that it is wider at the top than at the bottom, its lateraledges l6 and i1 converging downwardly of the door to agree with theconverging of the opposed edges of the said frame members I l and I2.Thus, when the door is in its lower closed position, its edges impingethe posts or frame members with a wedging action insuring a tightclosure of a nature rendering unnecessary the use of vertical stops,cleats or jamb strips overlying the joint between the edges of the doorand the abutting side frame members.

The door I5 is of the upwardly swingable pivoted type, as stated, and isshown as being provided with rearwardly efxtending brackets i8 pivotedat [9 to the garage or building structure, but, as the mechanicalarrangement of this pivotal support is not in the nature of aninvention, it need not be described in further detail herein. Anysuitable counterbalancing means (not shown) for the door may be providedas is usual in this type of upwardly swinging door.

It should be noted that the door does not drop vertically into positionin the wedge-shaped door opening but is actually performing a swingingmotion about the pivots l9, wherebya particularly desirable closingaction between the impinging inclined surfaces takes place as there is acombination of both vertical and lateral motions of the edges of thedoor against and the opposed edges of the door posts or frame members'asthe closing operation is effected, The reverse action takes place, ofcourse, as the door is opened, and the result is a desirable degree oftightness in the door when closed without any undesirable interferencewith the free and unrestricted opening action of the door.

With a door constructed to embody this lIlVBII-r tion, the upper portionof the door may or may not completely close against the lintel ll; alethough in the example the saidlintel-is shown as being provided with abumper strip 20.

It should also be noted, as important, that although the door is of aswinging type it abuts the lateral frame members with a-downwardpressure permitting a tightness and fitting not previously possible inswinging doors 'as heretofore built.

Where facings such as I3 and M are provided, these may be ofwear-resisting material such as of metal, or of resilient material suchas of leather, to provide impinging surfaces of desirable physicalcharacteristics to meet the desires of the builder.

While the frame members or posts are described as being free from jambstrips or cleats, such as are usually associated with swinging doors, itdoes not contemplate that mere abbreviated forms thereof, such as stopsat the top front or bottom rear of the door may not be used although Ido not regard such stops as at all necessary.

The degree of taper shown in the drawings is exaggerated for clearillustration, as applied to most large doors, and in actual practice Ihave found that, as an example, a door seven feet high which is ninefeet three inches wide at the top and nine feet wide atthe bottom worksvery satisfactorily.

This invention may be developed'within the scope of the following claimswithout departing from the essential features of the said invention, andit is desired that the specification and drawing be read as being merelyillustrative of a practical embodiment of the same and not in strictlylimiting sense.

What I claim is:

1. In a building structure, in combination, a pair of posts defining thesides of a doorway and extending upwardly from a floor or sill, saidposts having their opposed edges inclined and converging toward thebottom of said doorway, a door normally vertically disposed in itsclosed position between said opposed edges of said posts, the lateraledges of said door converging downwardly to conform to the downwardlytapering doorway, and hinge supports for said door pivoted materially tothe rear of said door whereby said door may be swung upwardly andrearwardly to an open overhead position, and downwardly intosimultaneous wedging impingement with said posts and with the floor orsill below said doorway.

2. In a building structure, in combination, a pair of upright postsdefining the sides of a doorway, said posts having their opposed edgesinclined and converging toward the bottom of said doorway, said postsbeing free from jamb strips such as usually project inwardly of a dooropening, a door normally vertically disposed in its closed positionbetween said opposed edges of said posts, the lateral edges of said doorconverging downwardly to conform to the downwardly tapering doorway, andhinge supports for said door pivoted materially to the rear of said doorwhereby said door may be swung upwardly and rearwardly to an openoverhead position, and downwardly into wedging impingement with saidposts.

SIEGMUND SIPEREK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATE TS Number Name Date 316,854 Van Auken Apr. 28, 18851,946,970 Grandgent Feb. 13, 1934 2,076,835 Young Apr. 13, 19372,131,415 Woodward Sept. 27, 1938 2,301,856 Conwell Nov. 10, 1942FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 50,607 Denmark Sept. 2, 193-5

